Liberal MP Sukh Dhaliwal has sponsored a petition for the government to order a “fresh inquiry” into the Air India bombing carried out by Sikh extremists in 1985, despite two previous inquiries concluding with similar findings.
The Air India Flight 182 bombing resulted in the killing of 329 people, the majority of which were Canadian and was carried out by Sikh separatist extremists.
Now some members of Canada’s Sikh community are calling for the government to reinvestigate a discredited theory that the terrorist attack involved agents within India’s government.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged that the Indian government had involvement in the murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C. last year, which has prompted some to revisit the Air India theory.
A petition was launched and has since been sponsored by long-time Liberal MP Dhaliwal, however, some of those who lost family members in the attack are angry with this decision.
“It’s deeply frustrating,” Bal Gupta, who lost his wife in the attack, told the Globe and Mail. “It opens up old wounds all over again. It’s all garbage. It’s an attempt to gain publicity and support for terrorist activities.”
Dhaliwal sponsored the petition earlier this month on behalf of constituents in his Surrey-Newton riding.
“This is their viewpoint, right,” said Dhaliwal in response. “It’s a public viewpoint. All I’m doing is taking it forward.”
Dhaliwal stayed mum on whether he agreed with the previous inquiries’ conclusions on the matter that the attack was carried out by Sikh extremists alone, and not connected to the Indian government.
Online petitions submitted to Parliament state that sponsorships require “no obligation on the part of the House of Commons or any Member of Parliament,” nor is it meant to be an endorsement.
However, if a petition that an MP has sponsored has garnered over 500 signatures within four months, the government is then obligated to respond within 45 days.
While the theory that the Air India bombing involving members of the Indian government may have picked up momentum again in the wake of Nijjar’s killing, other Sikh activists have since made similar threats.
Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, an outspoken Khalistani leader based in Canada released a video last fall wherein he repeated multiple threats to those who will be travelling on Air India flights on November 19 2023.
“We are asking the Sikh people to not fly via Air India on 19 November. There will be a global blockade. Do not travel by Air India or your life will be in danger,” said Pannun. “It is my warning to the government of India.”
The first inquiry into the Air India bombing lasted 18 months, concluding in 2010 that Canadian citizen Talwinder Singh Parmar, a Sikh extremist, was the architect of the attack and a separate inquiry concluded that a “cascading series of errors” by the Canadian government, the RCMP and CSIS made the attack possible.
Both inquiries noted that the Indian government repeatedly warned Canadian authorities that Sikh extremists were planning to target Air India flights beforehand.
